This invention relates to a device for improving the comfort of modern footwear, particularly footwear fabricated from man-made materials which insulate the user's foot thermally and electrically from the ground surface. The device is designed to be installed on footwear after manufacture of the footwear and may be separately sold and installed by the user.
It has been discovered that static buildup in wearers of insulating footwear can be eliminated by the use of an electrical conductor connecting the user to ground. The addition of a conducting wire of ribbon in the manufacture of shoes was taught by Murray in several patents of which U.S. Pat. No. 2,332,000, Issued Oct. 19, 1943, entitled, "Method Of Manufacturing Shoes" is apparently the most descript. While the soft conductor is disclosed for its heat reducing qualities in the cited patent, it is reported in the reference, "Get Well Naturally" by Linda Clark, (ARC Books 1971) at 285, that the shoes of Murray are "grounded" so that the wearer does not accumulate static electricity.
While a small wire or thread of conducting material is sufficient to eliminate static problems, it has been found inadequate for the problem of heat dissipation. Heat dissipation is greatly improved by a device that utilizes a substantially greater heat collecting area and complementary heat dissipating area. This is particularly important where man made, rubber-like soles are used which are particularly problematical in generating excessive heat.
Furthermore, use of a wire or flexible ribbon tended to result in failures from repeated flexure of the wire or ribbon during normal walking which severed contact from the internal end of the wire proximate the foot with the external end proximate the ground.
The improved static grounding and heat dissipating device of this invention solves the above problems and provides a unique fixture that can be added to a user's then owned footwear.